


could cut with a knife

by catpoop



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Canon Universe, Gen, Nero POV, One Shot, World of V, himbo nero, v has identity issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28231866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catpoop/pseuds/catpoop
Summary: Vergil sits inside the van and makes eye contact with his brother and son approximately 23 times.
Relationships: Nero & Vergil (Devil May Cry)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 60





	could cut with a knife

Nico’s van has always been bigger on the inside. There is enough space for Nero to swing some of his Devil Breakers around – and he’s definitely let loose a Punch Line once or twice before Nico came at him with the heaviest wrench he’s ever seen. Nero had run outside after that. 

He considers doing that right now, but for entirely different reasons. The cushy interior of the van feels unpleasantly claustrophobic with both Dante and Ver- his _father_ sat on the couches around him. Not to mention the man-sized pile of empty pizza boxes at Dante’s elbow, but that’s been a regular occurrence ever since Dante decided to hitch the occasional ride. 

No, Nero’s main concern is the brooding figure not a metre to his right, sitting there in absolute silence and giving him the worst heebie-jeebies. He fiddles with the Devil Breaker in his hands (plural, now!) and tries not to side-eye Vergil. Dante is flipping through a magazine and whistling under his breath with all the unconcerned ease of a relaxed man, but that doesn’t hide the sound of Vergil shifting around on his seat, or the feeling of eyes on the side of Nero’s head. 

He stares at the intricate machinery in his hands and tries not to flinch when Vergil stands up with a flourish and stomps out of the van. Nero lets out a sigh, and Dante doesn’t even bother to hide his chuckles. 

“Shouldn’t have scared him away like that.”

“I didn’t – ” Nero protests, but his complaint is quickly cut off when he catches a glint from his periphery. If he strains his ears, he might hear the whistle of a blade cutting through the air. “What the – ?”

“What the hell is that idiot doing now?” Dante leans back in his seat, looking over Nero’s shoulder at whatever is happening out on the deserted street behind him. 

Nero twists around in his seat immediately, only to see no sign of the flash from before. What he does see, though, takes a second for his brain to register.

“V??”

V ducks his head in reply as he steps into the van, cane tapping against the lip of the sliding door. “Greetings.”

Nero goggles as V casually takes a seat where Vergil had been a moment before, to flip open that familiar book, one arm resting on the handle of his cane. Nero looks to Dante, bewildered.

“Wha–” 

“Hey, V.” Dante casually gives him a two-fingered salute.

“Hello.”

There is a sudden thunk as Nero’s Devil Breaker falls to the ground, forgotten for the moment. He points accusingly at V with a free hand. “What the hell are you doing here? Where’s Vergil? Is he, like –”

“He’s not dead,” V answers calmly, making eye contact despite the book open on his lap. Nero notes with curiosity that his eyes are no longer dark and glassy like the void, and no longer set in a face that is fraught with decay. For all that Vergil ‘isn’t dead’, V sure looks like he’s sapped the life force from the old man.

“But –”

V interrupts him with a wave of his hand. “Vergil has simply decided to prioritise his humanity for a while. The half-demon as you know him will return eventually.”

While Nero is trying to wrap his head around this statement, Dante interrupts them both with a harsh bark of laughter. “What, so he’s just decided to let you handle all of the small talk? Damn, if I could do something like that…”

V’s expression tightens. “Well, I presume he had his reasons. I am not privy to all of them.”

Damn, that’s weird. Nero states as much, before adding: “Wait, so _are_ you my dad? A weird part of him? Why do you look so different?”

V has evidently tired of the eye-contact now, and he glances off into the middle distance as he says, “I am his humanity given form, which could be weird, yes. I suppose his demon lineage would have altered his appearance.”

“Then why are you referring to yourself in third person?”

At this, V pauses. He still hasn’t answered the first question, Nero notes. And when he does speak, the words come out in a tentative stream. 

“I – I don’t know. It feels right. I cannot claim to be ‘Vergil’, I suppose. And I don’t know everything, as I’ve said. Perhaps you should save some of your questions for Vergil himself.”

Dante snorts in the corner. “Good luck with that, kid.”

“Right.” For all that he’s asked V, Nero still feels little willingness to properly speak to his father. Maybe it is as V said – they aren’t one and the same. Still weird, though.

Thankfully, Nico returns not too long after that, back from a ‘hot date’ or such, though Nero still isn’t too sure why she’d driven the van there and parked a few blocks down from the bar of choice while the three of them were still inside. Granted, neither of them had bothered to complain, too tuckered out – not from the infestations they’d been asked to clear, but the early grease-sodden dinner they’d had afterwards. Vergil had chosen to remain silent.

With Nico back, Nero doesn’t get a moment’s peace with the way she gabbles on and on about the proceedings of her date, nor a second to spare even a thought about what’s happening behind him as he moves to sit shotgun. Dante and V must be talking, but again, he doesn’t make out much, not with Nico’s chattering in the foreground.

“And so I said, ‘Sorry I gotta dip, got babysittin’ duty, y’know how it is’, and damn I thought for a moment she was gunna think I’s married with two-an-a-half kids, but nah she took it real well. Gotta have a sense o’ humour, right?”

“Uhuh.” Nero nods.

“Anyways, when I explained it was three grown men an’ not literal _children_ , she was tryna get me out the door faster than I could get outta my seat!”

“Huh?” Nero says intelligently.

Nico reaches over to pat his shoulder. “‘Cause you men are worse than babies, that’s what.”

“Hey, wait – !” Nero shrugs her off, and she casually replaces her hand on the steering wheel, rolling her eyes. “C’mon, we defeated the Demon King and everything! You see that demon tree disappear?”

Nico taps ash onto the dashboard. “Your ‘Demon King’ is sittin’ in the back of the van and you guys just spent two hours sittin’ next to each other in silence, I’ll bet.”

Nero does not deign to reply.

When they finally pull up to the shop, Nero gets out of his seat with a wide, stretching yawn. Hopefully Dante’s spare rooms aren’t as gross as he last recalled them being – he’d appreciate the sleep before the long drive back to Fortuna the next morning. It is then that he catches sight of the man in the backseat, still reading, albeit a little more shiftily and more clothed.

“Oh. You’re back.”

Vergil grunts.

**Author's Note:**

> vergil: excuse me  
> vergil: *steps outside* *stabs himself*  
>   
>    
> [tumblr](https://swummeng-geys.tumblr.com)  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/hashtag_yikes)


End file.
